Forced personal loan recovery for which no loan has been availed by the card holder.

Location/place: Sengupta

Name of company/service: ICICI Bank Credit Cards

Banking System Complaint No. 2012130050 02023 [Banking Ombudsman] & ‘ICICICARE=004-067-309’ ICICI Bank Credit Card.- ANURADHA SENGUPTA Vs ICICI Bank

Subject : Forced personal loan recovery for which no loan has been availed by the card holder.
Ref:Credit Card No:4477463829058003File No: 3668063TXN Date: 20th December 2007.
Dear Sir/ Madam,
Please do allow me to put forward the case as per reference above on and behalf of the card holder Ms. Anuradha Sengupta.

Reproduced below is the complete factual details of the case for your perusal.

Let us begin, by understanding the sequence that led to this grievance being escalated to you.
Before 20.12.2007 numerous calls received from telesales personnel on behalf of the bank offering me to avail of the personal loan – each time I have blatantly refused the same.
24.12.2007 received cheque [annexure 1] bearing number 972181 dated 22.12.2007 for INR. 10,000.00 along with Amortization Schedule which is attached herewith as Annexure 2.
10.04.2008 after noticing the debit to my credit card bill immediately called up helpline, wherein was assured the matter would be looked into.
10.05.2008 received another bill which indicated that no action had been taken at your end and hence sent letters to your Mumbai & Kolkata office through speed post mail service..
28.05.2008 both the letters were returned with the words ‘refused to accept’ written by the postman on the cover. [annexure 3.]
Now, as a customer I would like your offices to throw light on the following points:
1. Since we have not till date deposited the cheque and encashed the same, it is clearly understood that:
a. We had not agreed to avail of the personal loan offer.
b. The cheque was forcibly sent by Bank.
c. Since the transfer of funds into our account did not happen hence we are not liable to pay any EMI, Principal and or interest on the same.
2. ICICI Bank offices at Mumbai & Kolkata both returning the Speed Post Mail, indicates that there is some sort of internal dictate for not accepting mails from individuals.
3. Lapses in the Bank’s Audit procedures

a. Inability to verify the encashment of cheques and link the same to payments.
b. Both your internal & external auditors did not identify this error is surprising& shocking.
4. Point no. 4 of the Amortization Schedule, appended herewith as Annexure 2, clearly states “To activate ‘Auto Debit’ on your account, Kindly fill the Auto debit mandate form and send it to the address mentioned in the form.” Since the reference is of the credit card account, would like to bring to your kind attention that we have neither received any such mandate form and neither have we signed and authorised the bank to debit my credit card account. Thus, the bank has on its own will and without proper authorisation from our end acted upon unilaterally and the same amounts to breach of trust.
In light of the above points we humbly requested the bank to:
a. Immediately credit my card account with the EMI amount debited for 12 months [ 20.01.2008 to 20.12.2008] at the rate of INR 945.58 per month, equalling to INR. 11,346.95.
b. Also credit my account with excess service tax charged by you amounting to INR 166.48.
c. Since the bank has used my funds for the entire period till date, it is expected that the bank should reciprocate with payment of interest for the entire period at the rate of interest applicable to credit card holder. As per our calculations the same works out to INR 69,391.82 [principal + interest], calculated up to 20th November 2012.
d. Mail, email, phone & postage charges of INR 1,000.00 approximately incurred by us till date.
e. Please also note that this harassment has continued since December 2007 and looks at not coming to an end. While all efforts have been made from our side the mental agony and harassment meted out to Ms. Anuradha Sengupta, a retired teacher and senior citizen by a bank like ICICI is unpardonable and beyond repair.
We had raised the matter to the banking ombudsman RBI Kolkata and post the same some moivement did happen but the current status being:
• that ICIC Bank agreed to pay the entire amount that they have wrongfully debited our credit card account along with up to date interest of 8.5% interest which is the FD interest.
• We did not accept the cheque since our contention was that the product in question was Credit Card and hence credit card interest should be applicable.
• Banking ombudsman sent us a mail saying the case is closed even without understanding the status from our end.
On behalf of a widowed senior citizen who has been a teacher in her career and has also honestly paid up the credit cards bills as and when they were raised, we request you to kindly evaluate the case on the basis of its merit and provide justice to us.
Regards,
Virender Raina
9029015429 .